International Day of Peace Event

As the tanks came down the road, Farah knew her life would never be the same. An Iraqi student, she and her family left everything behind and became refugees in Damascus, Syria. With no money and little status, Farah thought this was the end of her dreams, her hopes, her world. She was resentful of and angry at the United States, at George Bush, at her own president Saddam Hussein, and at U.S. citizens. Every day she and her family would pray that the family would return safely home at night.

Rubi is a New York City spoken word artist. Farah and Rubi have spoken to each other on the phone and on conference call. On the International Day of Peace, September 21, at 2:00 in the afternoon in the chapel at the Church Center for the United Nations, Farah and Rubi will meet in person. Rubi will attempt to put into her art the depth of Farah’s experience. Seven other activists and artists have connected by phone and will do the same. The activists are from Kenya, Sierra Leone, Peru, Nigeria, Kyrgystan, and Palestine. The artists—actors, poets, visual artists and musicians—are from New York City.

The event is titled “The Hypocenter as Peacemaking.” In the act of nuclear fusion and fission, energy is released in a nuclear explosion. The center of a nuclear explosion is called the “hypocenter.” The chapel, on this date, will be the place of fusion and fission. We come together, we find one another and we inspire one another to be bolder peacemakers. Then we spread out into the world.

The public is invited, but because of security on 1st Avenue and 44th Street during the opening of the General Assembly, one must have an invitation. E-mail chaplain@gbgm-umc.org if you wish to come. 

Read more reflections on the International Day of Peace 2010 in the sidebar.

Chaplain, Church Center for the United Nations
777 United Nations Plaza, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10017
212-682-3633, ext. 3127